Old Enough to Forget

Gary Wright followed up his double platinum release The Dreamweaver in 1977 with The Light of Smiles . It must have been a surprise and a bit of a disappointment when the album didn't perform as well as hoped. It did chart as high as 23 on the Billboard top LP and Tape chart according to what I read on the wiki, but it must have been more of a spike than anything. As the album didn't seem to attain any certifications that I could see. Not that it matters, I've said it before, and I'll likely say it again (more than once) most of my favourite albums never really attained any significant commercial success.  I'd seen this album over the years, but that was about it. Gary Wright was Mr. Dreamweaver and I'm sure somehow it was worked into his epitaph when he passed away a couple of years ago. For me I was really curious about this one, lately I've been a sucker for finding albums that follow a big release. For Gary Wright he was flying high after The Dreamweave...

Before cell phones the big advance in telecommunications was the cordless telephone ... before that he who had the longest coiled cord ruled the world. If you could make it from the kitchen to an adjoining room you were just showing off. The long red cord is all over the album cover, and the insert. Certainly Chris was flexing. Here we have Chris De Burgh's 1984 follow up to his rather good 1982 album The Getaway , and this was so good. Man on the Line was again produced by Rupert Hine who also provided keyboards and the orchestral arrangements. I also assume he programmed the drums for most of the album. Phil Palmer was again present on guitar, and oh my stars and garters he was ON FIRE throughout the album. The guitar solo on "High on Emotion" is jaw dropping. Speaking of the drums, this is how they should have sounded on The Getaway , oh I'm  not trying to do Steve Negus dirty, the man is a premier pounder but his drums sound absolutely horrid on that album - which...

When I was in high school a friend of mine had Spanish Train And Other Stories , and I remember being enthralled by the title track. I don't recall anything else. When videos were a thing in '83 I remember seeing "Don't Pay The Ferryman" and I was hooked. The album would be a big deal here in Canada where it sold over 100,000 copies. Chris De Burgh was likeable. I'll be the first to admit that I never really thought much of the rest of the album at the time. It was decent but I was really hoping for an album full of rockers. Of course I should have known better, but hey I was still a teenager. It didn't matter though - that one song was a killer, and the rest of the album was pleasant enough and I'd play it once in a while. After all, I was a fan of Al Stewart so it wasn't like I didn't listen to what could be loosely categorized as "adult contemporary" music. Rupert Hine produced this one, and he'd been working with SAGA around t...